James Joseph Martin jailed indefinitely

A man with a 7,500-page criminal record, mostly from outside Nova Scotia, has been locked up indefinitely after a local judge ruled him a dangerous offender. He had more than 50 convictions.

Before he moved to Nova Scotia in 2006, 48-year-old James Joseph Martin served four federal prison sentences for crimes committed in New Brunswick, including a vicious sex assault on a woman in Memramcook.

Just a few months after Martin began living on his own in Dartmouth, he assaulted a woman there and prosecutors decided to apply for the relatively uncommon dangerous offender label.

Martin’s Nova Scotia victim wasn’t in provincial court on Monday to hear the decision, but a woman he assaulted in New Brunswick in 2000 was there after earlier testifying at his dangerous offender hearing.

Martin, who has never shown remorse for his crimes, was “stoic” as Judge Frank Hoskins read his sentencing decision, said Crown prosecutor Michelle James.

Martin’s diagnosis as a psychopath factored into the ruling, said James.

“It’s not a regular type of sentencing,” she said. “It’s not about punishing him, really, for what he’s done. The judge is trying to get a bit of a crystal ball and look forward and say, ‘What do we have to do to protect the public from you?’”

After growing up in the Moncton area, Martin ended up in Nova Scotia after no halfway house in New Brunswick would accept him after his most recent release from jail.

He had served every day of the sentences for his last two federal offences, which is rare, said James.

“I know (Correctional Service Canada) tried a number of different locations before he was accepted into Carleton Centre in Halifax. They tried New Brunswick, they tried Quebec, they tried Alberta,” she said.

About six months after his release from the halfway house, he tried to sexually assault a woman he knew at her Albro Lake Road apartment. He straddled her, threatened to break her jaw, tried to choke her and smashed her head against the wall when she ran for help. He then stole her vehicle and fled.

Martin pleaded guilty in 2010 and went for a risk assessment.

Forensic psychiatrist Grainne Neilson found that his persistent violence and sexual violence began in early adolescence. Martin also exhibited some traits of psychopathy, including pathological lying, manipulation, callousness, promiscuous sexual behaviour and impulsivity, according to Neilson’s report.

“She gave some evidence that people with that particular diagnosis are very, very difficult to treat or rehabilitate,” said James.

As a dangerous offender, Martin will be reviewed after seven years and will need to convince the Parole Board of Canada that he is an acceptable risk, something that only around 10 per cent of labelled dangerous offenders ever accomplish, said James.

According to Neilson’s report and court records dating back to Martin’s teen years, he grew up in a violent home with a “particularly abusive” father, said James.